Religious belief,values, and psychotherapy

Conclusion Conflicts between religious values, personal needs, and the demands of society are inevitable in the lives of all. The healthy person is able to resolve these conflicts, or he learns to live with them. The unhealthy person incorporates them into his neurotic personality. They can become such as to block all progress in therapy. Unless they are handled in some direct fashion, the patient may never attain that inner freedom needed to reorient his distorted values and ideals. In some cases, therefore, the therapist may be forced to take an open approach to religious and moral values, even if this means influencing the patient's values in the direction of the therapist's value system.     

Religious belief,ethics, biological principles and assisted conception

New reproductive technologies present ethical challenges to religious believers. In order to distinguish beneficial applications from harmful ones, believers should be guided by religious teachings and also be aware of current scientific knowledge. In this paper relevant spiritual principles from Baha'i writings are outlined and it is suggested that Christians and Muslims may identify similar principles in their own sacred texts and religious authorities. Medical procedures in assisted conception are also described, and it is explained that biological development from gametogenesis to birth is a continuum of processes rather than a series of events. It is suggested that ethical debates about the moral status of the embryo and related ethical issues do not lead to agreement on a single spiritually significant point in development, but in the current state of knowledge it can be argued that individuation at about fourteen days is of major significance. Striving for an absolute position should be avoided as scientific knowledge is relative and will change in the future.     

Religious belief and intelligence: Worldwide evidence

Is there a positive impact of intelligence on religious disbelief after we account for the fact that both average intelligence and religious disbelief tend to be higher in more developed countries? We carry out four beta regression analyses and conclude that the answer is yes. We also compute impact curves that show how the effect of intelligence on atheism changes with average intelligence quotients. The impact is stronger at lower intelligence levels, peaks somewhere between 100 and 110, and then weakens. Bootstrap standard errors for our point estimates and bootstrap confidence intervals are also computed.     

Suicide attacks in Israel and suicide rates

In Israel from 1983 to 1999, the frequency and lethality of suicide attacks was negatively associated with the suicide rate.     

The importance of belief in argumentation: belief,commitment and the effective resolution of a difference of opinion

This paper examines the adequacy of commitment change, as a measure of the successful resolution of a difference of opinion. I argue that differences of opinion are only effectively resolved if commitments undertaken in argumentation survive beyond its conclusion and go on to govern an arguer’s actions in everyday life, e.g., by serving as premises in her practical reasoning. Yet this occurs, I maintain, only when an arguer’s beliefs are changed, not merely her commitments.     

Perceived support and upward mobility as determinants of revolutionary coalitional behavior

An experiment using three-person groups tested the hypothesis that the propensity of a low-status member to engage in revolutionary coalitional behavior against a leader depended on two structural properties of the group: the lack of potential upward mobility, and perceived lack of support for the high-status leader by other low-status members. Subjects worked on a collective judgment task in a situation that enabled low-status members to contravene the established status hierarchy and form revolutionary coalitions limiting the prerogatives of the leader. Results show that mobility itself exerted no effect on revolutionary behavior. However, several factors often associated with upward mobility, such as increased commitment to the stratified system and intensified concern with evaluation by high-status members, do relate negatively to coalitional activity. The data also indicate a strong propensity for subjects to engage in coalitional activity when they perceived the leader to lack support. This effect was explained in terms of heightened subjective probability of success for insurrection and increased dissatisfaction over inequitable rewards.     

Empirical support for a Type A belief system

Much of the research on Type A behavior has focused on overt manifestations of the pattern; consequently, the underlying psychological dimensions are poorly understood (Matthews, 1982). Price (1982) has proposed an elaborate, but empirically unvalidated, model suggesting that a specific set of beliefs underlies the Type A behavior pattern. A series of experiments was conducted to test the validity of Price's model and to develop a device for assessing these beliefs. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of this measure were .94 and .84, respectively. Significant positive correlations were found with traditional measures of Type A behavior as well as various facets of anger and anxiety. Finally, subjects who endorsed a high degree of Type A beliefs set significantly higher performance standards and were less likely to achieve these standards than their low-scoring counterparts. Results are discussed with regard to the theoretical construct of Type A as well as their implications for future research and treatment.This research is an extension of a study presented at the 92nd meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada, August 1984Special thanks to to Drs. James A. Blumenthal, Martin T. Gipson, Abby C. King, and Ellie T. Sturgis for their helpful comments in the preparation of this article.     

Religious belief Systems: Their Ideological Representations and Practical Constraints

Questions that center on ideology and related psychosocial processes bearing on science and religion are critically examined for their relevance to the psychological invariants and cultural characteristics that form the basis of any psychology of religion. It is proposed that a sound phenomenology of the re- ligious differences be identified and that dogmatism, the orthodoxies of spe- cific groups, belief in a just world, and assumptions about what is rational in human behavior be recognized as invariant effects behind the various forms of religion.     

Relationships among perceived career support,affective commitment,and work engagement

This study sought to test the predictive effects of perceived career support and affective commitment on work engagement. It was hypothesized that perceived career support would relate positively to work engagement and this relationship would be transmitted through affective commitment. Survey data were collected from 115 full‐time employees enrolled as part‐time graduate students in a large public university in Malaysia. Multiple regression analysis yielded results indicating that the relationship between perceived career support and work engagement was mediated by affective commitment. This finding suggests that employers can promote employee work engagement by ensuring employees perceive their organization to be supportive of their career and increasing employees' level of affective commitment.     

Religious Fundamentalism,Religious Coping,and Preference for Psychological and Religious Treatment

Religion may not be simply another variable in the assessment of treatment-seeking but an alternative worldview about the nature of suffering and its appropriate treatment. This study examines the relation of religious fundamentalism and religious coping on relative preference for psychological or religious help-seeking in 142 undergraduate students. Higher levels of religious fundamentalism and deferred religious coping were found to be associated with greater preference for religious rather than psychological help-seeking. The results suggest that religious issues need to be included in the investigation of help-seeking.     

Religious pluralism and justified Christian belief: A reply to Silver

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Religious belief,age, and sexual orientation on attributions of younger and older gay and heterosexual men

Using 4 vignettes and 20 response items, this exploratory study investigated attributions about older or younger gay or heterosexual men with a history of multiple sex partners, substance abuse, and legal problems. The character is diagnosed with a terminal illness and two options for care: no treatment or an aggressive treatment protocol with a small chance of recovery. When controlling for respondents’ (N?=?324) religious identification, frequency of attendance at religious services, and ethno-cultural identification, a General Linear Model was significant (F?=?57.014, df?=?20, p?<?.001). Differences in the vignette responses centred on perceptions of quality of life, the character's lifestyle, and suicide.     

Religious commitment and positive mood as information about meaning in life

Two studies examined the role of religious commitment in moderating the relationship between positive affect (PA) and meaning in life. In Study 1, Sample 1, religiosity was found to moderate the relationship between naturally occurring PA and meaning in life, showing that high levels of religiosity attenuated the effects of PA on meaning in life. In Study 1, Sample 2, religiosity similarly moderated the effects of induced mood on meaning in life. In addition, this pattern of results was shown to be unique to meaning in life compared to another life domain (life satisfaction). In Study 2, subliminally priming Christians with positive religious words (e.g., “Heaven”) was further shown to weaken the association between PA and meaning in life, whereas subliminal primes of negative religious words (e.g., “hell”) weakened the association between religious commitment and meaning in life. A competition of cues model is proposed to account for these effects.     

Acceptance and commitment therapy: Altering the verbal support for experiential avoidance

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behavior-analytically-based psychotherapy approach that attempts to undermine emotional avoidance and increase the capacity for behavior change. An overview of this approach is given, followed by several specific examples of the techniques used within ACT. In each instance the behavioral rationale of these techniques is described. A contemporary view of verbal relations provides the basis for new approaches to adult outpatient psychotherapy.     

Religious belief and its association with life satisfaction of adolescents in Hong Kong

The present study seeks to understand the association of adolescents’ religious belief with life satisfaction in Hong Kong. Data of 5,812 adolescents’ key demographic information and life satisfaction were gathered through stratified sampling in order to reflect four distinctive adolescent groups in Hong Kong: Hong Kong Mainstream Chinese Students (HKMCS), Non-Chinese Speaking South and south-east Asian Students (NCS), Chinese Immigrant Students (CIS) and Cross-Boundary Students (CBS) from Mainland China. The Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) was used to explore life satisfaction of the four student groups. Results indicate that there were significantly different levels of life satisfaction across the four groups. Key demographic variables were significantly but dissimilarly associated with different groups of students’ life satisfaction. Religious belief was substantially important for the life satisfaction of NCS in particular. Implications for research, policy and practice are discussed.     

Perceived organizational support, organizational commitment and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study

Using longitudinal data (N = 220), we examined the contribution of perceived organizational support and four mindsets of organizational commitment (affective, normative, perceived sacrifice associated with leaving and perceived lack of alternatives) to employee psychological well-being. In order to assess the contribution of support and commitment independently from workplace stressors, we controlled for the effects of role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload. Analyses showed affective organizational commitment to mediate a positive relationship between perceived organizational support and well-being. In addition, perceived organizational support negatively related to perceived lack of employment alternatives which, in turn, was negatively related to well-being. Normative commitment and perceived sacrifice associated with leaving were unrelated to well-being. The implications of these findings are discussed under the lenses of social exchange and conservation of resources theories.